Apple Inc. (AAPL) All Set to Dump Project Titan

Published By Blake Audett at October 17, 2016 01:19 pm

Electric cars are said to be the future of the automobile industry and are set to replace conventional cars that run on gasoline. Considering the future, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also decided to develop its own electric car and started “Project Titan” to achieve the dream. However, it looks as if the Cupertino based company is now scaling back its plans.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Apple has made a lot of job cuts in its automobile division with hundreds of employees reassigned or allowed to leave the company. For now, the company has even decided not to build its own car, which was earlier rumored to hit the roads in the next five to six years.

It is said that the company is now looking to work on self-driving technology, which will help Apple to partner with other automobile companies to roll out an autonomous car. With Apple providing the technology and the automobile maker providing the car – an area of its expertise – people might get a better-than-expected car from the alliance.

Apple started its Project Titan two years ago and straightaway went into a hiring spree as it planned to disrupt the entire automobile industry in the future. But things started to change as managers of the project did not agree to a particular direction. One employee even said that it was an incredible failure of leadership.

The project has been hit with people leaving the company and the project altogether. Project Head Steve Zadesky left the project with Dann Riccio taking over responsibilities from him. It was then that Mr. Riccio decided that the company should focus on self-driving technology that could be used by automobile makers rather than building an electric car in direct competition with Tesla.

Employees in the automobile department started to leave the company after concerns over job security. Some employees were allowed to leave in August, with a similar pattern followed by the company in September as well. Software and hardware engineers also left the company as the company’s plan of manufacturing an electric car started to fade away.